Sketching at Da Shop with USK Oahu and family

My son’s family came with me to the USK Oahu sketch outing in Kaimuki at Da Shop, a relatively new bookstore that is part of a publishing warehouse. They specialize in books and authors from Hawaii and Oceania. Along with the books displayed in the store and online, they have children talk stories, food events, author and artist exhibitions, film screenings and lectures.

My sketch of my granddaughter, Ocean, sketching in the children’s corner.

I thought the children’s reading corner was so inviting. When I was a child I would have loved having a place like that to tuck into with a good book!

9 year old Leila sketching at Da Shop, Honolulu.

Leila’s sketches, minus one.

Our son, Matt, reading to his daughter, Ocean.

See more about the outing here oahu.urbansketchers.org/2018/12/07/next-event-44/

Abandoned Art #2 in Hawai’i

Not always, but sometimes I take along a little extra surprise in my sketchbag when I’m on my way to meet up with fellow urban sketchers. Today I decided to abandon this original 5x7” watercolor at the Honolulu Fire Museum while spending the early afternoon sketching with USK O’ahu and my two granddaughters.

Here’s what happened: A visiting sketcher from Australia was working on her sketch of Engine #6 when she spied something on the driver seat!

Averill from Australia found it while sketching the fire engine!

Here’s phow I do it:

1. Choose a piece of art, original or print, to abandon. Tag it and wrap it.
2. Post a photo and details of where this will happen on my Instagram feed (follow me to get the latest notifications)
3. Post a photo on FB Art Abandonment Group page.
4. Place the free artwork for someone to find, but don’t get caught!
5. Post a photo of the abandoned art as a hint for the finder, whoever they may be. (Sometimes if a fellow sketcher finds it, they will surprise me by letting me know of their find! Three times the fun!)

More about Art Abandonment here.
More about my process while painting Kawainui Marsh here.
Please read more about our wonderful day with USK O’ahu here.

Kekaulike Mall with USK Oahu

When you have blue skies, warm breezes, palm trees and a bustling market square in Chinatown, it begs to be sketched. A few of the USk Oahu sketchers were kind enough to meet with me on Saturday afternoon for an impromptu outing at Kekaulike Mall in downtown Honolulu.

Here's my finished spread with my cool new USk Oahu fridge magnet from AJ! Thanks, AJ!

Check out more photos by Sebastian and our sketches on Flickr!

We met at the intersection of Kekaulike and North King St at 1:30, exchanged sketching stories, browsed each other's sketchbooks and realized we should probably get busy! That's Sebastian, Harald and A.J. (above) making the most of the hour of intense sketching we did during our visit to Kekaulike Mall. Sebastian wore an official orange USk Oahu tee shirt for easy recognition.

We felt that we could have spent a lifetime there, but accomplished a decent start in our sketchbooks. As we shared our sketches, we promised to get together again in early January for another outing. 

I liked the way the bananas are hung on a rail above boxes of fresh produce. It's illuminating to take the time to read the produce signs, even if you can't read the part written in Chinese. There are so many new and interesting subjects here: a rainbow display of shiny plastic housewares, a variety of brooms made in all sizes, shapes and materials and a gigantic durian which was mercifully intact! I  had to go back for another go at the sketches I started, finishing up some text and adding color.

A bit of history about our location: Much of Chinatown in Honolulu was rebuilt at the turn of the century after two fires. In the 1980s the city developed both Maunakea Marketplace and Kekaulike Mall to draw in commercial ventures. Along with O`ahu Marketplace, these centers teem with immigrant entrepreneurs selling fresh produce, seafood, clothing and household items.

Foster Botanical Garden Reunion

Sketching in the oldest botanical garden in Hawaii

It was so nice to reunite with painting and sketching friends at Foster Botanical Gardens this morning. After missing a season or two during our regular annual family visits here, I was able to take an hour or so to sketch at the gardens and catch up on the news with old friends and meet a few new ones. (Photo: top left, Barbara and I had our own personal benches near the butterfly garden-top right, flowers near the restrooms-lower photo, the Japanese Memorial, sketched using my DIY mini Altoids Kit).

I stood in the shade of the Foster Gardens office building to sketch the Hiroshima Memorial with the butterfly garden behind me and a glimpse of the city of Honolulu above the trees. I got a quick drawing of the pink flowers near the restrooms before I left. The petroglyph of green sea turtles, known in Hawaii as honu, is said to symbolize good luck, endurance and long life. It is often used to represent family.

Last sketches of 2014

Fireworks, dim sum, and Lily in the laundry. 

New Year's Eve in Hawaii is a whole different experience than in the Seattle area. The day started out ordinarily enough. We met for lunch at Jade Dynasty Seafood for Dim Sum. The majestic bronze horses at the entry doors wore festive wreaths with red bows. We tried some new dishes and enjoyed our favorite Char Siu Bao. Then we shopped a bit, since the restaurant is located at Ala Moana in Honolulu.

At home in Kailua, the after dinner firecracker and booming explosions start in earnest. Our ears are ringing. By the time dusk arrives, the air is foggy with smoke and it smells like gunpowder. We've put Lily the family pug in the bathroom to lessen the noise for her, but she still shakes and tries to hide in the laundry basket.

Then the neighborhood show begins. All around us there is a constant display of cascading, starlike clustering, bursting fireworks. It builds to a crashing, booming, blinding crescendo at midnight and finally peters out with only an occasional blast for the next few hours. Lily and I finally can go to sleep.

Update: On Jan 2, #klsketchnation featured this sketch as one of their sketch inspirations #mysketchinspiration on Instagram. They wrote these very nice comments:

"Get out, travel and make a journal out of it. You are your own story. So why not have your own storybook."

KLsketchnation is an online community of sketching enthusiasts out and about in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.